Final Fantasy XIV Dawntrail is almost here, so it’s time to take a look at some of the best features introduced in the game’s fifth big expansion. Aside from the widely-known graphical update and the new dye system, we’re getting a lot of interesting stuff with the newest patch.
The Best New Features Coming in Final Fantasy XIV Dawntrail
With some of the most important changes already widespread to the public, many new features and changes will make our lives better in the game, even though they didn’t get that much attention during the Live Letters. Here are some of the most important ones, mostly announced in the Patch Notes for 7.0.
Auto-Advance Changes and Volume Adjustment For Cutscenes
As the game is very story-heavy, players often use the Auto-Advance option to enjoy the cutscenes without touching their controller/keyboard. However, it doesn’t won’t work as well for non-voiced cutscenes, as it often skips the dialogue faster than you could read it. Dawntrail addresses this issue by letting players ” adjust text auto-advance settings to apply only to voiced dialogue”. No more need to search for that exact bit later on YouTube!
While still on the topic of cutscenes, we can now adjust their volume while they’re happening instead of having to wait until it’s done. Some scenes have the loudest sound effects imaginable, only to go to such a soft mood that it becomes hard to listen. Players can use any of the following commands to adjust their respective volumes:
- /mastervolume
- /bgm
- /voice
- /systemsounds
- /ambientsounds
- /soundeffects
- /soundeffectsself
- /soundeffectsparty
- /soundeffectsother
- /performsounds
- /systemsoundsspeaker
Character Customization Changes
In addition to a new playable race (female Hrothgars), the character creator has been greatly expanded. We got all the lighting changes previously implemented in the Benchmark, but battle voices can also be sampled instead of just emote voices. These changes also apply to aesthetician visits (where you can also enable/disable your current headgear and facewear) and Fantasia uses, of course.
Speaking of which, players can now alter any aspect of their character up to 60 minutes after changing it through a vial of Fantasia. This will be particularly useful, as we’re all getting a free Fantasia through a new quest starting from Dawntrail.
Dozens of New Configuration Options
The System Configuration settings added several new options, with the most important being the Graphics Upscaling options (only available for Windows players). This can greatly enhance your visual experience with the game’s newly updated graphics. Many of these changes can also accommodate weaker PCs if they struggle with running the game, even if they passed the Benchmark tests.
Related: How to Download and Use FFXIV Dawntrail Benchmark
Another important change is to the “enable enemy’s remaining HP percentage” option. Previously, only the final percentage would display decimal values (0.9% to 0.1%), but now they’re always shown whenever you enable this option (letting you see 99.9%, for example). You can’t see the exact amount of HP remaining just yet, though.
Improved Wondrous Tails Experience
The Wondrous Tails is one of the best leveling methods in the game, but some of its duties were just too hard to get consistent queue times. To remedy that, certain target duties were now condensed into categories, and completing any of the duties in that category will give you a Seal for the book. Namely, all Eden Raids were condensed into their respective tiers, and all Alliance Raids are now divided by expansion. Doing any of the Crystal Raid series is now valid if you have “Alliance Raids (A Realm Reborn)” as your objective, for example.
FATEs Grant You Extra Bicolor Gemstones
The Forlorn Maiden is a special enemy that occasionally spawns in open-world FATEs starting from Stormblood areas. Killing it makes that particular FATE grant you extra experience, but it will now also give you more Bicolor Gemstones. The currency’s limit has also been increased to 1,500, but this will only apply to Shadowbringers zones and forward, as they cannot be obtained in previous expansions.
Tinctures Are Easier to Use
If you’re into high-end content, you’re probably aware of how awkward using Tinctures (popularly known as pots) can be due to their animation lock. Raiders rejoice! This is now something left in the past as the Patch Notes mentions how “the time until actions may be used after consuming certain medicinal items has been reduced”. The game’s most used medicinal consumables, often mandatory for clearing new content, are definitely the biggest winners of this.
This may allow players to do previously impossible rotations now, such as using a Tincture alongside an ability without clipping their other skills. This affects mostly end-game enjoyers, but it’s a huge change for comfort overall, making rotations feel much smoother than before. If restorative items (regular Potions, Ethers, etc) were also affected (which is very likely), this change also greatly improves content such as Deep Dungeons, making it even better than expected.
These were some of the most impactful changes applied to the game with the expansion that wasn’t as promoted as other big ones, such as the new Block/Mute features also added in the 7.0 Patch. And those were only the tip of the iceberg, as we’re certain to get lots of even better improvements as the expansion goes on.
Final Fantasy XIV Dawntrail will be available on July 2nd, with Early Access starting on June 28th.
